Makes 12
My boss David was the one that introduced me to these custard delights. He has been buying them and sharing them in the office weekly until he got all of us addicted to them. This is a quick Portuguese-style version you can assemble and enjoy with your family at any time if you have some butter puff pastry in your freezer and the ingredients you would normally need for vanilla pudding. Simply delicious smooth treats!
165 g caster (superfine) sugar
180 ml water
peel of 1 lemon
1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped
1 tsp vanilla extract
35 g cornstarch
375 ml milk
3 egg yolks
1 x 375 g sheet all-butter puff pastry, halved
Preheat oven to 400°F/200°C.
Place the sugar, water, lemon peel and vanilla in a saucepan over low heat and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Increase heat to high and bring to boil for 4 minutes or until thickened just slightly. Remove the lemon peel and vanilla bean and discard.
Place the cornstarch and 125 ml milk in a large bowl and mix until smooth. Add the egg yolks and whisk to combine. Add the remaining milk and the sugar syrup and whisk until combined.
Pour the egg mixture into a medium saucepan and place over medium heat. Bring to a boil and cook, whisking continuously, for 6 minutes or until the mixture is thickened. Set aside to cool completely.
Layer the halved pastry sheets on top of each other. Starting at the short end of the pastry, tightly roll into a log. Trim the edges and cut into 12 x 1 cm rounds. Carefully press the pastry rounds into a 12-hole, ½ cup-capacity (125 ml) lightly greased muffin tin. Divide the custard between the pastry cases and smooth the top. Do not overfill.
Bake for 25–27 minutes or until the custard is just blistered and golden. Allow to cool in the muffin tin for 5 minutes.
Turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
NOTE:
It’s important to use an all-butter puff pastry to achieve the light, crispy pastry of an authentic Portuguese tart.
It is also important to overlap the two pastry sheets in order to establish the flaky texture of a custard tart.
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